


Cerebellum

by Faybird (Happy_Endings)



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Attack on My Emotions, Eventual Relationships, Family Dynamics, Family Issues, Harm to Children, I Don't Even Know, I'm Sorry, I'm gonna fight myself if I don't pull this off as well as I want to, I'm not (completely) heartless, Inspired by The Walking Dead, Mothers will die, Multi, Nothing is Safe, OTP's will be destroyed, One-Sided Attraction, There will be fluff, This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things, What Have I Done, there are so many people in this, this is gonna fuck you up
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-22
Updated: 2016-01-26
Packaged: 2018-05-15 12:10:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,974
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5784853
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Happy_Endings/pseuds/Faybird
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's been three years since shit hit the fan. Since then I've seen too much blood and not enough emotion as humanity was brought to its knees by this unshakable virus. It's been three years since I was separated from my group and three years since I became totally and undeniably alone.<br/>In those three years I've learned three very important things. <br/>People are never who you expect them to be, even the kind ones. The last thing anyone should ever do, for their own survival, is fall in love. And don't get bitten.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. One

There's a lot I just can't understand about people. More than anything, I can't understand how easily people can fall for one another. Take Isabel for example. She's only met this boy once in her entire life and at that moment it's as if the curtains before her eyes have been lifted. She is the moon and he is the glorious sun.  
"What's his name?" I ask her. She blinked a few times in silence, either surprised or confused. "What?"  
"You don't know his name?" I leaned away from her, giving her my full attention. "How do you not know his name?"  
"I know his name, of course I know his name- you _don't_?"   
"I don't keep tabs on the lower classmen." I straightened in my chair and leaned forward, one hand supporting my chin, the other tapping the surface of her notebook, decorated with hearts and awkward drawings. "But you do. Why the hesitation?"  
Her cheeks turned a light shade of pink and she looked away. "It's not like I can just _talk_ to him."  
"Why not?"  
"Because! It's not that simple. You wouldn't know."  
" _Isabel_."   
She sent me a pointed glare and pulled her notebook away from my hand. "You don't understand."  
I rolled my eyes. "Whatever you say. When you're older you'll look back on this moment and kick yourself for not saying anything." I leaned back and folded my hands behind my head. "I do understand, though."   
She scoffed. "Alright." She mocked in a derpy voice. "Levi the Stoic has feelings."   
I rolled my eyes again and looked around, watching the other students shuffle around to pack their things before the bell rang for lunch. Isabel and I always sat in the back of the classroom, we could chat quietly and I'd help her with her work without distraction.   
"Are you skipping lunch?" She stood up with her bag slung over one shoulder.   
"Probably." I sighed and stood up, picking up my stuff and making my way to the door. "Why?"  
"I...maybe I should...try to...talk to him? I won't unless you're close."  
I sighed and nodded. "Alright. I'll be your backup."  
"Really?" Her green eyes flashed up to mine, wide and electric. "You're the best bro ever!"  
She hugged me, arms wrapped around my waist and cheek pressed against my back. "Yeah, yeah."  
That's another things I don't get.   
All she has to do is say hello to the guy, he won't bite her. At least, he doesn't look like he would. "Invite him over, if you want."  
"What?" Her voice had risen three octaves, and people were starting to stare. "Yeah. It's a good ice breaker."  
She squealed and took a few deep breaths, fanning herself as I had discovered most girls did when excited. She fixed and evened out her pigtails and collected herself. "Alright. I'm gonna go for it."  
"I'll be right behind you, Bel."  
I watched her march confidently right up to Farlan Church and-  
panic.   
Alright, not the plan.   
He raised a brow and she stammered. "S-sorry!"  
She spun on a heel and stared at me, wide eyes pleading for a way out. I glared and shook my head. _You can do this_. She spun right back around and faced him. He was smiling now.   
"Hey Isabel." He grinned. I could see the blood rush to her face, covering her ears and neck. "Hey Farlan! I'm...um...I'm- well, Levi is, I guess _we_ are...um..."  
Farlan looked over her head and at me, one brow raised in question. I pinched the bridge of my nose. _Okay maybe you can't do this._  
She took a deep breath and straightened up. "Levi and I are having a winter break party, would you like to come?"  
I was shocked by how quickly she had composed herself. "Yeah! Sounds like fun, if you're there I'm there."   
She went red again and nodded. "Y-you need our address?"  
"Oh yeah, I have a pen, but my backpack is in my next class."   
"I think I have-"  
"You can write it on my hand, if that's easier."  
Isabel could have fainted. She shakily took his pen and wrote out my address. "There ya go."  
"Thank you! Here." He took the pen and her hand, writing something I couldn't see on her palm. "Shoot me a text sometime."  
She nodded again and spun around, sprinting headlong in my direction. "I held his hand!"  
"That's not really-"  
"I HELD HIS HAND. Don't ruin the illusion, Levi."  
I held my hands up. "Sorry, sorry. You held his hand."  
"I'm never washing this hand again."  
"That's nasty." I cringed.   
"Whatever. Go smoke or whatever, I'm going to pig out and then giggle over this for a while."  
"Don't have to tell me twice. I'll see you at home."  
"Thanks, Levi."  
"Don't on me now." I ruffled her hair and watched her take off, smiling a bit before walking in the other direction, heading for the sanctuary of not-school.  
On my way I narrowly escape the faster than hell pace of Eren Jaeger, his bag clips my back and he stops immediately to apologize. Eren is another one of those people I can't understand. What Isabel has in pride and enthusiasm, Eren matches in anger and charisma. Maybe anger isn't the right word, he's more _driven_ than angry, but with him it isn't hard to mix the two.   
"It's alright." Now I really need to smoke. I keep walking and don't stop until I'm out of sight from the school.   
The first drag of a new cigarette always makes me feel disgusting. I think of all the PSA's I've seen, yellow skin and loose teeth- I cringe at the thought and take another. It seems to be the only thing that curbs my anxiety without making me numb. I think about Eren and Isabel, something I've been doing a lot, though I'd never admit to it. I had commented once that she looked like him, flat chested and fiery, and she punched me.   
I laughed at the memory and looked around, having burned through three quarters of a cigarette and bored already. My eyes settled on a drunk was wandering around in the middle of the road.  
I contemplate shouting at him to move, but he stumbles towards me instead, lifting his gaze and looking right at me. I felt a wave of uneasiness flood my chest and straighten up, stomping out my cigarette and head quickly back to the school.


	2. Two

It was on a Monday that the President of the United States died.  
It was on Facebook, and of course, I dismissed it right away. People posted shit like this all the time, it wasn't anything I hadn't seen before. I had thrown my phone onto my bed and went back into the living room to help Isabel hang up decorations.  
Even in the house, with the heat cranked up, Isabel insisted on wearing a sweater. She was always cold.  
I kept thinking about how many people were showing up, how loud it would probably get, and how good the food in the oven smelled.  
"Anyway, I told her she needed to shove it, because, like- it's _my_ life, and if I want to dye _my_ hair fire engine red or whatever I can. You know?"  
I blinked a few times, breaking the trance I was in. "What? Yeah. You do you."  
"Right?" She didnt' seem to notice I wasn't paying attention. Isabel had been on the subtle punk-rock bandwagon for as long as I had known her. Studs and ripped jeans, combat boots and not one shirt without a band logo. Her latest thing was hair. She had been contemplating different colors for almost a month now.  
"You can always just wear a wig, right? Why pick just one color?"  
Her eyes widened. "My hair would be a different color every day!"  
I held the paper lanterns she tossed at me while she moved the ladder over a few feet and climbed up again. "That sounds like the opposite of a problem."  
She bit her lip and narrowed her eyes, the face she always made while she was thinking. "True."  
  
On Tuesday the Government shut down.  
Isabel had decided on bright red hair, and seemed happy with the decision. I hadn't believed the posts at first, but boy now did I.  
We sat on the couch, Isabel cursing at someone over Xbox Live for shooting at her.  
"We're on the same team, numb-nuts!"  
I continued to scroll through the news article. He was sick, apparently, and had lashed out at one of his bodyguards, who pulled him off of his wife, who he had bitten.  
I frowned, wondering what kind of illness leads people to bite each other.  
They didn't say how he died exactly, which was strange. I was expecting the disease to kill him, but the didn't even say that.  
I looked at Isabel and opened my mouth to ask her what she thought about it, but she was too into her game to be bothered.  
I texted my mom.  
There are a few things that should be known about my stepmother.  
She's a genius.  
Not a certified genius-kind of genius, but she could be. She travels a lot, a very well known nurse and scientist for the CDC. She's also never home. Rarely ever is she here, though she said she would be by tonight. Despite her absence, she's a great mother. She is always the first to jump at the defense of people she cares for, though she is also incredibly level headed. She always thought before she acted, and I had a lot of respect for her because of it.  
 I asked her if she knew about the President.  
She replied after some time.  
Yeah. I knew.  
A shiver ran down my spine. I clicked my phone's screen off and put it into my pocket, my stomach churning.  
I didn't want to deal with it at the time. I didn't want to think about how awful my life would become.  
I should have.

-

   
 "Alright, come on, kid. Wakey-wakey."  
I was the first to wake up, always a light sleeper. Eren groaned from his spot on the other end of the couch. Some illegible German.  
"Eren, up and at-em, kiddo. I have to go to work."  
I sat up and stretched, poking his leg with my foot. "Eren come on." I yawned and tugged the blanket away from him.  
"No." He whined, rolling over and off of edge of the couch.  
I couldn't help but laugh as he flopped onto his face and snapped back into consciousness.   
"What? What's happening?"  
"It's Monday. I have work and you have school." Carla smiled sweetly and adjusted her purse on her shoulder. "Do you want a ride? You can hang out with me at the hospital for a while."  
"I'd rather not." He yawned. Carla shrugged and took the remote from the coffee table next to her, frowning at the candy wrappers we had left there the night before. She turned on the news and rubbed the back of her head, sighing at the morning's headline. "The world's going to shit." She murmured.   
"You picked a bad profession." Eren got up and stretched. "I told you, hospitals are awful."  
"Got polio?" Carla asked.   
"What? No, you know I don't have polio."  
Carla smiled, smug. "I'll be sure to thank the hospital staff for you."  
He frowned and she laughed. "Whatever this is, though, stay away from it."  
"No can do-buckaroo." Carla rubbed Eren's head, ruffling his hair. "It's my job. Wouldn't trade it for the world."  
"Just don't catch that." Eren frowned again. He was frowning more than usual this morning. He wasn't ever a morning person, but clearly the events of this morning had him upset.   
"Why do you watch the news, anyway?" Eren yawned again. "It's dark."  
"It's reality." She answered. "It's necessary."  
Eren didn't respond, so Carla sighed and put her hand on the back of Eren's head, they touched foreheads for a moment before she kissed his cheek. "Love you Ren."  
"Yeah, yeah."  
"Have a good day at school, you two."  
"See you later, Mrs Jaeger." I waved.   
She left without another word, and we got ready for school.   
"What'd you think is gonna happen now that the President's kicked the bucket?" Eren asked, fixing his jeans and shirt.   
"The Vice President becomes boss for the rest of the term." I shrugged. "It's happened before."  
"No, I mean, how do you think people will react to it?"  
"The way people are now? Not in a good way. Hate, violence, probably blame some minority group."   
He scoffed and pulled his shoes on, grabbed the trash from the table and disappeared into the kitchen to throw it away.   
"What'cha want for breakfast?"  
"I don't care."  
Eren's mom was an avid coupon user, despite both of the parents having well paying jobs. As a result, the Jaeger household was stocked full of stuff. The laundry room and half of the garage had been taken over by detergent, Lysol wipes, and canned food.   
There was a lot more in there, I'm sure, but I never bothered to go searching through it.   
I watched the news while I waited for him to come back.   
"News on the virus that had taken the life of former President Obama has yet to be identified, and little is known about it, other than it's method of spreading."   
The woman on the screen turned to a straight-faced man in a dark suit. "What do you believe the fastest way for this virus to spread is? How can we avoid a pandemic?"  
The man stared into the camera. "This virus spreads just as any other would. It's nothing to be majorly concerned with as of yet." He looked back at the reporter. "Contact with an infected individual, their infected blood or other bodily fluids, the basic stuff."  
"Is there any chance of this becoming deadly, or spreading outside of Washington DC?"  
"With all due respect, ma'am, every disease starts off like this. It's scary, yes, and the effects are strange, but as of now it's as deadly as the common cold. We will grow immunities to it, we develop vaccines and medications. You have to trust that our CDC had already isolated the virus and is studying it as we speak. This will not develop into a pandemic."  
"So we have nothing to worry about?" The reporter asked, disbelief easily recognizable on her face.   
"Nothing but rising gas prices." The man smiled softly, the only facial expression he had made.   
The reporter turned to the camera and sighed. "You heard it here, the virus is 'nothing to worry about'. We have one more person to speak with, live from San Antonio, Texas."  
The screen changed, and another woman, notably shorter, was facing a taller man. He had a calm, easy-to-approach look about him. I almost didn't recognize him.   
"Hey Eren, your dad's on here!" I called out to him. He didn't respond, so I assumed he just didn't care. They weren't on good terms, anyway.   
Dr Grisha warned us to report anyone acting suspicious, to check the CDC website for updates and symptoms to look for, and be safe, as the virus was likely to cause panic and paranoia among others.   
I went into the kitchen and looked around for him. "Eren? Did you hear all that?"  
He wasn't where I could see, crouched in front of the fridge or in the pantry. I didn't see him in the laundry room, so I opened the garage door and waited. "Did you hear me?"  
Eren was standing still, facing the big garage door. He had his back to me, and immediately held out a hand to silence me.   
I walked next to him and listened.   
Someone was making weird noises just on the other side of the door.   
It sounded like whispering, or maybe soft singing. I walked closer, putting my ear to the door to listen.   
I couldn't understand what the person was saying, and looked at Eren in confusion. At that moment, something hit the door, scaring the shit out of me and making me jump back a foot.   
"What is that?"  
"Some crazy person, or just Jean trying to creep us out."  
Eren glared at the door.   
Jean was his neighbor, and a childhood friend of sorts. They had known each other since the fifth grade, when Eren smacked him and called him a horse for breaking all of his crayons and getting gum in his hair that day.   
The horse thing stuck.   
Eren threw one of the cans at the door, missing me by about two feet. "Fuck off, Horseface!"   
"Hey! Really? Jesus, he's just being a douchebag, leave him alone."  
I left the garage and went back into the living room.   
"We're gonna miss the bus if you keep yelling at doors!" I called out to him.   
Usually we walked, but something about a strange person whispering outside the house made me tedious to walk.   
He grumbled as he finished getting ready. "I hate it when he does shit like that."  
"What did throwing a can do to help that?" I asked.   
"I figured he was close enough to whisper into the goddamn door I could freak him out."  
He tossed me my pack of food and I opened it, swinging my backpack over one shoulder. "Maybe it worked."  
"If not I can throw another."  
"Eren."  
"Honestly, I don't mind."   
"Let's just get going, I don't want to miss class."  
I used the remote to turn off the TV, not having the time to listen to the rest of the report.   
That was the last morning anyone had seen Carla Jaeger alive.   
That was also the last normal day of our lives.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't pretend the Government doesn't have something planned in the case of a massive disaster like this. Let's be real, people. Also 3,888 words is pretty short, I know.

**Author's Note:**

> Hot diggity damn. This is going in a different route than my version on Wattpad, obviously. I wanted more development this go round. :)


End file.
